Saturday, June 24, 2017

I started this blog on October 30, 2005, and my website tracker Statcounter.com reports that, as of 11 AM today, this blog has now been visited more than 1,403,860 times. Another tracker that I used before, Sitemeter.com, reported that the average time per visit was over three minutes. Google Analytics, meanwhile, reports that visitors have come from more than 81 countries and that this blog has reached more than 4,195,620 page views.

Statcounter also reports for 2016 a daily average of 916 page views, 510 first-time visits, and 101 return visits.

Google Analytics and Statcounter work in different ways and thus report different statistics. With regards the average time of 3 minutes per visit, Jakob Nielsen says that 2 minutes is an eternity on the Internet. (Nielsen is the acknowledged guru of writing for the Internet.) Nielsen also says that the number of return visits is a better indicator of website or blog’s effectiveness, rather than the number of first-time (or absolute unique) visits.

The service I provide in this blog and in my Family Matters website is free legal information and Biblical counseling. As I told one person who e-mailed me, what is legal is not always Biblical, and what is Biblical is not always legal. In my website and blogs, however, what is Biblical will always take precedence.

Do not depend on “legal information” found in chat rooms or online forums

Despite this milestone for this blog, three things sadden me:

One, I have stumbled upon chat rooms or online forums for OFWs, single parents, etc. and I am amazed at the tremendous amount of misinformation about legal matters I found in these forums. The problem is that people in these chat rooms, rather than inquiring from lawyers, rely on each other and on people who pretend to know the law. It does not matter whether a person has gone to law school or does good research on legal topics. Answering people’s questions about legal matters is considered as “practice of law” (as the Supreme Court ruled in the case involving the late Sen. Rene Cayetano and former COMELEC chairman Christian Monsod). The practice of law is reserved only for those who have passed the bar exams and are in good standing with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

If you do have legal questions, you should inquire from lawyers directly or from government offices. I have listed in a tab below this blog’s title graphic the contact information of government offices where you can get free legal assistance.For example, you can ask for free legal help from the Department of Justice Action Center (DOJAC). It acts on complaints, requests for assistance and legal queries of walk-in clients of the DOJ. For legal assistance please visit the Department of Justice Action Center (DOJAC) Main Office, Ground Floor, Multi-Purpose Building, Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila; Telephone no: 523-84-81; Email Address: dojac@doj.gov.ph or visit any Regional/Provincial/City Prosecution Offices in your town or city.

You can also try asking for free legal help or information from the following:

Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) chapter offices in your town or city, usually located in the Hall of Justice

Two, the most visited page of this blog is that on adultery, concubinage, and psychological violence, with more than 292,000 visits. The other pages with a high number of visits are those dealing with support for an abandoned woman and her children (more than 154,000 visits), annulment or declaration of nullity of marriage, entertainer Amy Perez’s failed petition to have her marriage to Brix Ferraris declared void, and custody battles over children.

Three, there are more people who visit this blog rather than my Salt and Light blog on how to build strong relationships, marriages, and families. Compared to this blog, my SL blog is limping along with only 54,000-plus visitors since December 2005. It seems that there are more people who want to know about how to end their marriage than people concerned about building stronger marriages.

I remember Valentine’s Day twelve years ago. I received an e-mail from a woman, competent and highly successful in her profession. The problem was, her professional success had led to the breakdown of her marriage because her husband had become totally insecure. The question she desperately asked me was, “Is there hope for my marriage?”I spent the whole afternoon of that Valentine’s Day answering the e-mail, assuring her that yes, there was still hope for her marriage.

I also hope that that those of you going through various marital difficulties will try to get hold and watch Kirk Cameron’s movie on relationships; you can watch the YouTube trailer above. (Read more About FIREPROOF; surf to the FIREPROOF blog).

About FIREPROOF, the movie

At work, inside burning buildings, Capt. Caleb Holt lives by the old firefighter’s adage: Never leave your partner behind. At home, in the cooling embers of his marriage, he lives by his own rules. Growing up, Catherine Holt always dreamed of marrying a loving, brave firefighter...just like her daddy. Now, after seven years of marriage, Catherine wonders when she stopped being "good enough" for her husband. Regular arguments over jobs, finances, housework, and outside interests have readied them both to move on to something with more sparks. As the couple prepares to enter divorce proceedings, Caleb's father challenges his son to commit to a 40-day experiment: "The Love Dare." Wondering if it's even worth the effort, Caleb agrees-for his father's sake more than for his marriage. When Caleb discovers the book's daily challenges are tied into his parents' newfound faith, his already limited interest is further dampened. While trying to stay true to his promise, Caleb becomes frustrated time and again. He finally asks his father, "How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?" When his father explains that this is the love Christ shows to us, Caleb makes a life-changing commitment to love God. And so with God's help he begins to understand what it means to truly love his wife. But is it too late to fireproof his marriage? His job is to rescue others. Now Caleb Holt is ready to face his toughest job ever...rescuing his wife’s heart.

About Me

Friends of Legal Updates

Related blog

Marital infidelity: causes, consequences and conclusions; Mediation not allowed in domestic violence cases (with apologies to Pia Guanio); Why marriages fail: He said, She said; Transformers: Why do persistent suitors become passive husbands? How to save your marriage alone; All about women; Why do men think the things they think, say the things they say, and do the things they do? Surviving marital infidelity; Legal lessons from Willie Revillame and Liz Amoro; Marriage: The Ultimate Fighting Championship; Boundaries in marriage; and other articles.

Color or black and white?

I took these pictures when I was a journalism teacher and yearbook adviser in Rizal High School in Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines from 1984 to 1995. Rizal High School was once credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest high school. Hello to all Rizalians!

Getting married? Take a look at what “covenant marriage” is all about

“Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman who agree to live together as husband and wife for as long as they both live. We have chosen each other carefully and have received premarital counseling on the nature, purposes and responsibilities of marriage. We understand that a covenant marriage is for life.”